Hypothetically speaking, would you ...

[belbein]

... buy an instrument of the kind you want, from a maker you like, for a sales decent price, if the instrument was just godawful ugly? Lets say something like this:

*

Which is to say, an instrument which you'd have to either accept the fact that you were going to take the instrument out in public and suffer the slings and arrows, never take it out in public, or completely refinish it? Or, maybe the question is: is there a point at which ugliness trumps all other factors?

---------------------
*No slight intended to the Taylor Mini. It's a pretty guitar. I just don't think I could take one out in public without getting arrested.

[pops1]

I guess it would depend on the instrument for me. A weird color ughhh. On the other hand if it sounded good I don't think it would matter. You could add to the top of the instrument by having your friends sign it. Have everyone sign it the more the better as it would take away from the design. Remember "sticks and stones.........."

[f5joe]

OP: I would hang my head in shame, without a doubt. I hope that helps.

[Jacob]

[Drew Streip]

Add a double pickguard a la Bryan Sutton and call it good.

Although I think it's pretty tastefully done, in comparison to what it could have been....

Or, just play so well that your music transcends the instrument

[JeffD]

I think if it played well and sounded awesome, was affordable, I would discount how ugly it was and buy it.

I think if you can really kick it, they won't care anyway how ugly your instrument is. Dazzle them and they will be in awe and the ugliness of your instrument will be a feature, not an issue.

Or, just play so well that your music transcends the instrument

says it better than I just did.

And upholding my fierce contrarian tendencies, what others think about what my instrument looks like is wayyyyyyyyy down the list. I struggle enough with how much I should react to what others think of my playing.

[Randi Gormley]

I owned an instrument I personally thought was ugly, and frankly I never took it out of its case. It played well, sounded good ... but I always seemed to grab another mandolin when I was playing. ymmv

[FLATROCK HILL]

Just tell 'em your old Jumbo went in for neck reset and you borrowed your daughter's axe.

[allenhopkins]

1. You can get the Taylor Mini without Taylor Swift's autograph on it, save a few bucks, and it just looks like your average Taylor that might have wandered onto the set of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (and their instruments).

2. As the owner of a Polk-A-Lay-Lee, an Oscar Schmidt Guitaro, a guitarron, a Guild Ashbory mini-bass, a Little Martin made of Formica, two tiples, a Pollman "mandoline banjo," and a variety of other weird and wacky instruments (I participated in a two "Weird and Unusual Instruments" workshops in the past couple years) -- all of which I have performed onstage with -- I say, "To hell with public opinion/acceptance; I fly my instrumental-freak flag proudly!"

I did trade in the armadillo-shell charango -- the one with hair and ears on it -- but only 'cause John Bernunzio wanted it back.

Later: the "Taylor Swift" graphic on the Mini is mild compared to some of the Little Martin Formica-topped models that came out a few years ago -- and which Martin dealers were required to buy, and try to sell to the public. Check out this one. or this one

[UsuallyPickin]

Well ..... looks do come last in the tone, playability, condition, price, looks, vetting process. I have been shopping and not picked up an instrument to try out because of the looks. Brightly colored instruments .... nope .. I mean I don't even wear brightly colored ####s. I feel the same way about shapes...... there are a few instruments out there that I just don't like the looks of because their shape is just odd to me. An over decoration with mother of pearl has never appealed to me. Ugly is not a term I would use because beauty is in the eye of the beholder ..... but buy for my personal use ... maybe ... R/

[Bertram Henze]

Depends: if I never played it, I'll never play it. But after playing it for, say, 20 years, I couldn't stop playing it.
I guess that's the deeper meaning behind that Irish saying: To know beauty, one must live with it

[Hudmister]

Buy the guitar and then get Taylor to autograph it for you. It will develop a special appeal.

[JeffD]

Fun fantasy. Get a really ugly low rent mandolin shaped object, the kind that reduces everyone's expectations of your ability to play. Get it all set up and fixed up so it sounds and plays acceptable, but don't change how it looks. Then to a jam and just tear up the pea patch.

[JeffD]

You want ugly? Try this thread. Have have some Pepto Bismal handy.

[belbein]

Add a double pickguard a la Bryan Sutton and call it good.

Although I think it's pretty tastefully done, in comparison to what it could have been....

Or, just play so well that your music transcends the instrument

It's certainly true that Willy Nelson could play with a beat up old guitar and nobody cared. But unfortunately, I'm not Willy Nelson.

[belbein]

I owned an instrument I personally thought was ugly, and frankly I never took it out of its case. It played well, sounded good ... but I always seemed to grab another mandolin when I was playing. ymmv

THAT is exactly what I'm afraid of. That I'll tell myself (as JeffD says) that I don't care what people think--and I mostly don't--but that I'll just never really love it and so won't play it.

[belbein]

Check out this one. or this one

OMG. Please just shoot me now.

[belbein]

the armadillo-shell charango -- the one with hair and ears on it -- but only 'cause John Bernunzio wanted it back.

Red card! You can't post that and not post pictures! We insist on seeing. (Though it may be that Kathy Bates in the hot tub kind of thing.)

[NursingDaBlues]

I just discovered that I am a very shallow person.

[Denny Gies]

Nope.

[JeffD]

Not being able to bond with the instrument is another matter entirely. And the extent to which how the instrument looks and how its looks fit into your personality and "look", is not unimportant.

What is ugly anyway? I know some folks who have make a pretty cool consistent look out of really kitschy instruments - ukuleles especially. So the Martin 175th, or the Taylor Swift, or even a Hello Kitty guitar, would not be out of place, necessarily.

[belbein]

a Hello Kitty guitar

You're now officially pushing the envelope, methinks.

- - - Updated - - -

Nope.

Was it the hair and ears? Kind'a put me off cold cuts for lunch.

[Dave Sheets]

Well, there's honest ugly, and there's tacky ugly. I happily play a couple of instruments that are honest ugly, they survived accidents or abuse in their history, I've patched them back up and play 'em. A couple of them aren't pretty by any means, but it's honest ugly. Now those Formica topped Martins? That's another story.

[NursingDaBlues]

On a serious note...

My Dad was a carpenter. He once told me that only another carpenter gives a darn about what kind of tools are in your toolbox. Everyone else only cares about how well you use those tools.

[Chris Daniels]

Check out this one. or this one

There's also this Martin, which I can't decide is either an abomination or the absolute most awesome bluegrass guitar I've ever seen:



C.